letter to outlook from dr vijay r: No hate politics

Disappointing, since it is the typical Indian liberal viewpoint, with even Varun Gandhi thrown in for good measure !

A serious error though, is the equating of the BJP and Hindutva with our 'neighbour's' ideology.

Even for a news magazine one expects more finesse and understanding of the concept of Hindutva, its origin, what it stands for in the BJP philosophy.

However, let me focus on your disclaimer that you are not a sycophant of the Congress, a theme which you refer to repeatedly in articles and tv appearances (the latest on NDTV's The Verdict, May 20,2009).

Your hymn of praise for the Congress seems to ignore the politics of corruption that the Grand Old Party is famous for, more recently from Bofors onwards.

The issues that the BJP raised on a daily basis (and you take them to task for that) are important ones for the nation: swiss money is one example.

The reason that such issues were not brought to the attention of the general public is precisely because the liberal media did not give it sufficient coverage, and not because the BJP was at fault for raising the issue.

I would recommend the excellent analyses on Quatrocci, the Bofors affair, swiss banks etc. in articles by Gurumurthy on his web site : gurumurthy.net

For the rest, it would be a sad day for India if the nationalist party, the BJP, turned into a pale imitation of the Congress.

I for one am confident that they will play a serious role as the major Opposition in Parliament, without abandoning the Hindutva platform.

There has been much talk of the youth vote for Congress. While Tarun Vijay in his article in TOI 'Who falls if India rises' generously and correctly congratulates the young Congress MPs, the exit poll figures show that the percentage of the youth vote in the BJP camp is higher for the BJP than the Congress, relative to the mature voters.

While the youth versus mature ratio in the Congress camp was about even: 29.5%(youth) and 30.3 % (mature), the BJP tally is as follows: 20% youth and 18% mature.

My personal opinion such as it is:

The BJP cannot and should not become a Conservative Right party,as the American one. They will lose whatever vote base they have. Both the Democrats and the Conservatives in the US. have a distinct Anglo Saxon heritage that both follow, with some differences on views such as gay marriage and abortion. Even here the spectrum is narrower than might be expected, with Obama favouring civil union etc. but not marriage.

The BJP on the other hand should not be shy of advancing the Hindutva cause which happens also to be a nationalist cause:

1. Reclaim PoK2. Annex Bangladesh3. End Article 3704.Check the influx of Bangladesh Muslims 5.Stop all foreign funds for NGOs6.Halt the uncontrolled mushrooming of churches, prayer houses and madrasas funded by foreign money. Different only if local Muslims and Christians provide their own funds for the above. 7.Ban religious conversion.8.Central legislation which will free Hindu temples from government control.9.Enforce a Uniform Civil Code. It is an anomaly not to have it in a modern secular democracy.10. Emphasise strongly Savarkar's definition of Hindutva: the shared culture of ALL inhabitants of Hindustan, and the equal rights enjoyed by all inhabitants of the subcontinent.

Good governance, security and development are not new causes. They have been there ever since the Indian nation also had state institutions from earliest times.

Having said the above, congratulations for being one of the few liberal journalists who exressed the thought that it is unseemly to beg Rahul to join the government.